Politics in Africa

Catalog description

This course examines political patterns in Africa with an emphasis on the relationships between politics and culture, and politics and economy. Themes and concepts, not country studies, structure the course, which extracts patterns that are universal or typical in sub-Saharan Africa, examines the colonial legacy on which contemporary states build, and considers the political problematic that the colonial experience imparts with respect to cultural issues of identity, tribalism, and ethnicity in Africa. The course also examines the role of force and violence in consolidating political rule, the economic constraints that fetter Africa, and potential future developments in Africa's politics.